Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds. Unfortunately.

ADMIRER

3 Days Ago

Waking up to the sound of a young guy on the TV rambling about the apparently gorgeous weather, Emily lifted her head and squinted in an attempt to get her bearings back; the ache of her back indicating that she had never made it to her bed last night before the couch itself confirmed that, and the bright morning light shining in through her large, front windows causing her eyes to scrunch up and remind her of the tension headache that seemed to throb throughout her whole body.

She was on her own sofa, in her own house, and as she finally trusted that, she relaxed a little. I must have been more exhausted than I realised. But as she sat herself upright and stretched, the ache that had eased a little as she had flopped back down against the cushions reminded her that she had no reason to relax at all. After last night, she had no desire to see JJ and she certainly had no desire to see her on such little sleep; a thought that prompted her to glance over to the clock on her kitchen wall.

"8 o'clock! Shit-shit-shit!" She cursed to herself as she jumped from the sofa and ran frantically upstairs to take a quick shower and throw on some clean clothes.

The water barely even made it to a heated temperature before she was jumping out again, grabbing the first shirt and pants that she came to, brushing her teeth and running back downstairs to grab her gun, credentials and keys from the counter.

It took her fifteen minutes to arrive at work, ensuring that she was only thirty minutes late; considering that she had actually only been awake for thirty minutes, she was fairly impressed with that time. But as she walked by JJ's car, her heart sank, and sank further as she caught her sad and lifeless reflection in the window of that car. She quickly straightened out her disheveled appearance, brushing a hand through her still wet hair and tugging on the waist of her shirt as boarded the elevator. She had this; she could do this.

But her heart sank once again as she stepped out onto the floor of the BAU and was immediately met with the knowing eyes of Derek Morgan. Oh, crap..

"Morning, Prentiss. Good night?" He laughed, nodding towards the mess that was still Emily's hair.

"Huh?" She looked at him confused before realising that she'd missed a bit. "Oh.. Uh, I woke up late."

Before Morgan had the chance to say anything else, Garcia came barging down the hall as if on a mission.

"Emily. Puh-lease. They have been sat on your desk since I got here this morning, and it's driving me out of my wonderful mind trying to stop myself from snooping." The analyst blurted out animatedly, pointing a sparkly-tipped finger towards Emily's desk.

"Wo-hoah, princess! Someone has an admirer!" Morgan grinned as he looked in the same direction as Garcia.

His banter was lost on Emily as she too noticed the object of Garcia's frustration, and the gift that she had forgotten in amongst her own haze the night previous returned to her mind. Curiously, she walked over to her desk, Morgan and an impatient Garcia in tow, and reached down to pick up the card from in between the flowers.

As she read over the words, the profiler in her kicked into alertness, but she was soon interrupted. "Did you see who-"

"Let me see that." Garcia, frustrated at still having to wait, pushed passed Morgan and snatched the card from Emily's hand.

Looking over the card, then turning it to see the back as if there should be more content to it, confusion washed over Garcia's face. "What the hell is that supposed to mean? Cryptic much? This girl better be hot, Em." She shook her head and threw the card to the desk in disappointment before heading back to her office. That really had not been worth all the excitement that she had put into it, especially that early in the morning.

"From Miss Last Night, are they? You sure must have left an impression on the girl. I didn't even know they made bouquets that big." Morgan joked.

Emily didn't respond, her mind distracted as she tried to remember the words written on the note left with the previous bouquet in the hope of making a connection as to who could be sending them. It didn't make sense, none of it did. Was this someone's idea of a joke?

"What do you think, JJ?"

But with those words, her head shot up. At first she was like a deer caught in headlights, but she'd be lying if she said that she wasn't curious and at least a little smug at how she hoped that JJ would react to her getting flowers from some secret admirer. She was clutching at straws still and doing so in such a childish manner that didn't suit her at all, and she knew it, but nothing that she did these days seemed to suit her anymore.

"Very nice. Someone has an admirer." JJ replied simply, pretending not to care and succeeding just enough.

"That's what I said. Except she won't tell me who." Morgan pouted, casting a glance from JJ back to Emily, completely missing the exchanged looks between the two woman.

Emily attempted to explain, feeling suddenly guilty for allowing JJ to think that she had someone else in her life. "It's not tha-"

"Well maybe she just wants to keep her options open. No use getting in too deep with one person, eh." JJ's smile, the one that Emily was certain was only there so as not to raise any suspicions with Morgan, was the only thing that belied her slightly bitter undertone as she spun and immediately headed towards her office.

Emily blinked; what reason did JJ have to be bitter towards her? What the hell had she done? What had she missed? This whole situation had been JJ's idea in the first place and she was the one who was seeing two people at once, so why was it that Emily felt so damn guilty?

"Morgan. Don't." She stated firmly, stopping him before he had the chance to say a word.